Entering year three of the American “project”, not many changes were expected this summer. Yes, some thought that there would be a few purchases for players to fill out the back line, but few could have anticipated the complete overhaul that took place at Trigoria.

The summer business began with the incredible of Brazilian center back Marquinhos to PSG for nearly €35m. The offer was hard to resist for Pallota & Co. since the Giallorossi paid under €8m for the young center back, allowing for a large profit. Roma then turned their attention to Udinese’s Mehdi Benatia who was brought in for nearly €14m, but the deal was for partial cash and 50% of the rights to Nico Lopez and Velario Verre. Roma then made their “purchase of the summer”, by acquiring PSV’s Kevin Strootman for €17m.

The attention of Walter Sabatini was then turned to Pablo Osvaldo. After the controversial “phone-tapping” of Roma’s hierarchy, it was revealed that their priority was to ship the Italian international to Southampton. After initially scorning the English club, Osvaldo finally accepted the transfer which netted Roma €17m.

Next, Roma purchased one of Rudi Garcia’s former players, Gervinho, from Arsenal for a fee of around €8m. Gervinho’s arrival was then followed by Maicon (free transfer), and Morgan De Sanctis, who would fill out the back line for Roma.

After business looked to be done, Roma then made a shock move by sending Erik Lamela, who was extremely reluctant to move away from Roma, to Tottenham Hotspur for €35m. While the pain of Lamela leaving was fresh in the mind of tifosi, Roma moved quickly by acquiring Fiorentina’s young and promising winger, Adem Ljajic.

The summer showed that Roma were able to be ambitious yet still earn the largest profit in Serie A. Some will be disappointed that Roma did not bring in a striker (several attempts were made for Fabio Quagliarella and Alberto Gilardino, but they never came to fruition), but with the anticipated return of Mattia Destro, it seems Roma will take their chances with Francesco Totti and Marco Borriello as their striking options.